Hurst Performance announced today that it will cease production of its entire line of performance vehicles and that it will be closing the doors of its Irvine, CA, facility.

Citing their failure to gain access to the programming of the Dodge Challenger which would allow for custom tuning for the installation of the Vortech supercharger, and blaming that failure on Chrysler for not giving it to them, Hurst has decided instead to call it quits across all brand lines, not just the Dodge Challenger. No more Hurst Challengers, Hurst Camaros or Hurst Mustangs.

To Hurst Authorized Dealers, Customers, and Fans:

Hurst Performance Vehicles, as of July 29th 2011, will be no longer accepting vehicles for production. All production will cease and our plant in Irvine, California will close for business when the final car rolls out.

There are several reasons behind the decision; however, the primary issue revolves around the lack of factory support to the aftermarket regarding the use of supercharging for 2011 Dodge Challengers.

As many of you are aware, production of the Challenger has represented the bulk of HPV production since the first car was displayed at SEMA 2008. The mating of the Hemi and the Vortec system, with primary tuning by Diablo, has become legendary.

Hurst cars have out performed the competition in quality, package-content and value. Many of our customers are captains of industry, sports figures and well-known entertainment business celebrities.

Our Camaro, Mustangs and Viper production has been limited, but gratifying; however, there is not enough business without the Dodge Challenger line up. We expect that Hurst cars, both in your inventory and in our customer’s garages willincrease in value due to this decision.

All cars in our system will be completed as soon as possible.

This draws to a close another chapter in the history of Hurst.
Sincerely,

Chris Phillips CEO

Nate Shelton CHAIRMAN

HURST PERFORMANCE VEHICLES
www.hurst-performance.com
949-261-5500

Both, then Dodge CEO, Ralph Gilles, and the SRT engineers have previously stated when asked what’s new for the 2011 Dodge Challenger, that in addition to the new engine, suspension and refinements, that it’s programming would be unhackable. In other words, The popular hand held tuners, like the Diablosport Predator or Trinity will no longer be able to send and program customized programming to the vehicle or its engine. Without such customized programming, installing a supercharger would be futile and receive little, if not worse, gains in performance. And while Diablosport is working feverishly in trying to crack the Chrysler programming, in seven months, they have been unable to do it so far.

So, without the customized tuning needed for the Vortech supercharger in its higher line of vehicles, the Series 4 ($32,750 + the price of the car), its supercharger-less Series 2 line ($21,975 + the price of the car) which requires no programming will die off, as well as the entire lines of the Hurst Camaro and Hurst Mustang since those two brands were being wholly supported by the income from the dominant sales of the Hurst Challenger.

There is no doubt that Hurst Performance will be back. This isn’t the first time they have left the marketplace. I am confident that we will all be seeing the items that we liked most on the Hurst Challenger, i.e., the wheels and rear spoiler, etc., wind up in an online Hurst Store.

When this came out and I found I can’t tune my challenger and will not be able to period. I put my challenger up for sale. I refuse to buy an auto produced by a failed, bailed out company that wont work with other companies to improve their product. I am now officially anti chrysler.